David Shrigley Exhibition of Giant Inflatable Swan-Things
David Shrigley's Exhibition of Giant Inflatable Swan-Things exhibits at the Spritmuseum in Stockholm, Sweden.
Known for his comical designs and playful exhibitions, David Shrigley presents a new show at the Spritmuseum in Stockholm, Sweden. His attention-grabbing works on display titled 'Exhibition of Giant Inflatable Swan-Things' is an installation created exclusively for the museum gallery, which opened on 27 September 2018. Nothing is quite as it seems in Shrigley’s universe, often simplifying designs, adding humour and making statements, exactly what you will discover from his latest installation.
The British artist has filled the gallery space with twelve inflatable 'swans' that, over the duration of a twelve-minute cycle, the swans slowly inflate, their stick-like necks shoot up abruptly revealing their rather humorous smiling faces. Standing for four minutes before the power is switched off, the swans slowly deflate, collapsing on top of one another, perhaps tired from all the excitement and laughing in the room?
The idea for the exhibition was born from a series of limited edition series of small swan statuettes that Shrigley made back in 2000, which were cast in polyurethane resin. These designs were transformed into giant pool floats by Australian company ‘Third Drawer Down' poking fun at the idea of quirky pool floats often seen on influencers’ Instagram accounts.
The Absolut Art Collection consists of some 850 artworks by 550 artists from around the world. The collection, which was initiated by Andy Warhol in 1986, is a unique cultural document and is permanently housed at Spritmuseum. Every autumn, Spritmuseum hosts a solo show by one of the artists represented in the Absolut Art Collection. David Shrigley’s piece ABSOLUT SHRIGLEY was created in 1996. Previous Absolut artists who have exhibited at Spritmuseum are Beatrice Cussol, Keith Haring, Frank Bowling, Dan Wolgers and Bertil Vallien.
